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"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela."He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb."Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights."When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". - David Cameron.

Friday, 6 December 2013

Britain fails to renegotiate EU free movement rules

Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposals to place greater
restrictions on free movement in the EU were dismissed by the European
Commission on Thursday.

At the Brussels meeting
of EU ministers, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding attacked the UK’s welfare
system, saying it was “too generous” and “any abuse of benefits by EU migrants
is the fault of the British authorities.”

Last week May suggested a cap on numbers if
immigration crosses a certain threshold and proposed new member states reach a
certain level of economic output or income per head before full free movement
rights are permitted.

“We must be able to
slow full access to each other’s labour markets until we can be sure it will
not lead to mass migration,” said May.

The Netherlands,
Germany and Italy have
shown some support for free movement reform.

The meeting follows the announcement by Prime Minister
David Cameron of plans to limit EU nationals’ access to benefits in the UK, a move which
may turn out to be unlawful under EU law.

Among the limitations on the availability of benefits
to EU migrants proposed by Cameron are no unemployment benefits for the first
three months, no housing benefits on arrival and no benefits after six months.

Reding said the changes will be monitored in Brussels and challenged legally
should they break European law.

“Our EU rules are
good and they are here to stay. Member states need to apply them to tackle
abuse,” said Reding.

The European Commission is expected to release a
report on free movement abuse during the two-day meeting which is scheduled to
end today.

The proposals come ahead of the removal of labour
market restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian workers in the UK in January
2014.

The latest figures from the Office for National
Statistics reveal the biggest rise in immigration in the year preceding June
2013 was migrants from EU nations.

October saw the publication of
a European Commission report which claims less than 38,000 EU migrants claimed
Jobseeker's Allowance in the UK
in 2012 and unemployed migrants made up just 1.2 per cent of the total
population.

Free movement is a fundamental principal of the EU and
one which is closely tied to trade and economic integration. Eurostat data says
there were 2.3 million EU citizens in the UK
and 2.2 million UK
citizens in other EU countries in 2012.